


The Dragon-Slayer and the Dragon-Tamer

by orphan_account



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (2010)
Genre: Character Study, F/M, Gen, Minor Character Death, Misses Clause Challenge, POV Female Character, Yuletide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-20
Updated: 2012-12-20
Packaged: 2017-11-21 17:40:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/600410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What made Astrid who she is? How does she view the war between dragons and Vikings? And what in the world is Hiccup playing at?</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Dragon-Slayer and the Dragon-Tamer

**Author's Note:**

  * For [betweenthebliss](https://archiveofourown.org/users/betweenthebliss/gifts).



> I really loved your prompt, and I hope you enjoy my take on it! I liked the chance to get into Astrid's brain, and I hope you like what I found there. Happy Yuletide!

Even before she was born, Astrid was a fighter. Towards the end of her pregnancy, her mother swore that Astrid spent every moment trying to kick her way out of the womb and into the world. When she finally did arrive, it was in the middle of a dragon attack on Berk, and Astrid's shrieks were louder than the entire battle. It was good that she was a fighter; she needed to be. When she was barely six, she snuck out of the Great Hall where the children were being kept, eager to see (and maybe kill) a dragon. Instead, she saw a Monstrous Nightmare set her father on fire.

The next day, she started teaching herself how to use weapons, starting with her father’s axe, which was nearly bigger than she was. She practiced every day until she could not only lift it, but swing it accurately and even throw it. Hiccup, who had been her favorite playmate in the days Before, was left behind along with the rest of her childhood. She was a warrior-in-training, if only in her own mind, and she needed to spend time with other warriors-in-training, not a tiny clumsy boy who caused disasters wherever he went.

Her mother didn’t notice. She was joining every dragon-hunting expedition that left Berk, and if she had recognized her daughter’s fervor, she only would have encouraged it. Both mother and daughter wanted nothing so much as revenge on all dragon-kind.

But Astrid had also learned her lesson. While she practiced fighting at every available opportunity, she never went out alone after that night. She did her best to get recognized for the work she _did_ do--putting out fires, rebuilding, sharpening weapons, practicing where she could be seen--in hopes of being selected for dragon training. The others near her age who were also heading for dragon training welcomed her, and she quickly became something approaching a leader, though a leader who was rarely listened to. The others weren’t big on listening.

And then there was Hiccup. Hiccup who, as the chief’s only child, ought to have been the leader. Hiccup who _always_ went out on his own looking for dragons to kill and instead caused more damage than the dragons themselves. Hiccup who was always saying that he had hit a Night Fury, or killed a Night Fury, or captured a Night Fury, with nothing to show for it. Once, his “Night Fury” was nothing more than a sparrow. Along with the rest of the village, Astrid kind of just wished that Hiccup would vanish into thin air, or grow up, or _something_. Instead, he got placed in dragon training. With _her_.

Dragon training was supposed to be _her_ time of glory. Her chance to kill a Monstrous Nightmare alone, in front of the entire village. She had dreamed about it ever since That Day. In her dreams, it always felt like justice.

But _Hiccup_. Clumsy, disaster-prone _Hiccup_ was going to take that from her. He never practiced, could still barely lift a shield, let alone a weapon, and he was doing _better_ than her. If she didn’t know better, she’d think some of the dragons actually _liked_ him. Maybe they just recognized an ally in destruction when they saw one, but it still wasn’t fair. He was stealing _her place_ , the place she had worked for for nearly ten years.

And what was he _doing_ off in the woods by himself all those afternoons? He never took weapons (or came back with missing limbs and giant bruises) so he wasn’t practicing with weapons. He didn’t take the Book of Dragons with him, so he wasn’t studying (not that there was anything that could explain his sudden talent in the Book anyway--she’d checked). He wasn’t meeting a girl (or a boy, for that matter), at least not one from Berk. It was driving her crazy.

So she did the only logical thing: she tracked him down in his little secret hideout in the woods and confronted him. Even in her wildest imaginings, she wouldn’t have expected an actual Night Fury to come popping out. She _especially_ didn’t expect to see Hiccup actually _protecting_ it. Was he _crazy_? She knew that she had told him to choose a side, but she hadn't actually expected him to choose dragons over his own people! He had to be stopped before his little _pet_ destroyed the whole island and killed them all.

Of course, nothing could be as simple as that. She had barely left Hiccup's little secret valley before the Night Fury had grabbed her around the middle and carried her to the top of a tree. She clung to the branch, furious with Hiccup, his dragon, and herself. She _hated_ heights. And maybe Hiccup didn't actually know that, but maybe he did and put her here on purpose because she'd do just about anything to get down, even climb onto a dragon. She was going to kill him once they were down. Slowly and painfully. And his dragon too.

The dragon jumped to the top of her to-kill list when it proceeded to go through what appeared to be every possible attempt to throw her off to her to her death. By the time it was done, heights were the _least_ of her worries, and she didn't even care that she had wrapped her arms around Hiccup and was shouting out sorries. Anything, _anything_ to make it stop.

And then...it did. The dragon--Toothless, did Hiccup call him?--leveled off, and Astrid wasn't afraid anymore. They were still in the air, but somehow, something seemed to have shifted. Like she had decided to trust them without even noticing that she had. It was beautiful. She didn't know how it had happened; when she had decided not to kill Toothless, but she had. Astrid Hofferson, the greatest future-dragon-slayer on Berk... was going to let a dragon go. And after she saw that massive Queen dragon, maybe she was even going to let _most_ dragons go. Maybe.


End file.
